Magic is like the Schrödinger’s Cat of obscure passions. Or, to put it another way, magic is simultaneously very cool and not cool at all. Similar fields are definitely one or the other… mimes for instance, are never cool. But watching a good magic show can leave an audience in awe wondering how exactly the tricks were done, while at the same time the magicians’ offstage persona often reveals them to be socially awkward, obsessive-compulsive geeks. So cool and uncool, simultaneously. Make Believe follows six teenagers from around the world who have immersed themselves into the world of the stage magician. They practice and perform constantly while juggling their “normal” teen lives with varying levels of success. The crux of the story is their involvement in an annual World Teen Magician competition, and the film follows their preparation and experiences leading up to and beyond the event. The six teens come from varying backgrounds and personalities but all share a common love for magic and the art of illusion, and their stories as seen here help prove the maxim above.

There are few subjects that will bring back all the awkward memories of my middle school days, but the one always gauranteed to, is magic. That’s because I am a dork of the first order and made more than a few dollars cutting ropes up at parties and putting them back together again. But I never would have had the dedication or guts to do what the kids in Make Believe do. The documentary chronicles the lives of six teenagers as they prepare for a huge magic competition in Las Vegas. They come from all over the world, but they’re all outsiders. And only one of them can win. Check out the trailer for yourself: